The Ghost In The Basement
by InkSpatteredHands
Summary: Katherine is having a hard time writing a creepy news story. Will she find help from a mysterious force?


**Written for the Newsies Pape Selling Competition!**

 **Task Two** : Write about a haunting.

 **Prompts:**

1\. (Object) Lamp

4\. (Dialogue) "This is about to go downhill real fast from here..."

 **Word Count:** 2344

 **Namaste! I don't own annnyytthhing! Yeah.**

Katherine had never believed in ghosts.

It just wasn't logical. When people died, they stayed dead, they didn't come back in the form of a glowing, creepy thing. Plus, if every person that died turned into a ghost, how had she not seen a single ghost yet? It just didn't make sense for ghosts to be real.

Unfortunately, Halloween was just around the corner, and everyone she came in contact with seemed to be diseased with Halloween fever, in the mood for ghosts, spectres and ghouls and all sorts of things that lurked in the night.

Even her boss at work wanted her to write about ghost sightings and psychopaths and murderers.

"It's what people want to read about this time of year! Give them a good ghost story, Ms. Plumber!" Her boss had ordered her just this week. Now she was stuck with the task of making an ordinary kidnapping sound supernatural. And doing an article about some ghost cat haunting, which sounded especially stupid. Who'd ever heard of a ghost cat?

She sighed, and shuffled her papers on her desk. Getting home and relaxing sounded really nice right now, but she had promised the newsies she was going to come over after work, and that was always chaotic.

She glanced at the clock for what seemed the 20th time in five minutes. Two more minutes, and she'd be done for the day. Not like she had done that much; she had started on the kidnapping article but hadn't gotten very far. A bat decoration on the wall next to her grinned devilishly, seeming to enjoy her misfortune. Ghost cat, ghost cat, it seemed to call. She stuck her tongue at it. One more minute left. She groaned, and slumped down in her chair. Finally, it was time to go. She grabbed her bag, and rushed out as fast as she could. Freedom!

The chilly fall air felt good against her warm skin outside. The trees were still changing into bright colors. It had been an unusually long summer, so fall stayed a little longer as well, which was fine with Katherine. It was always way too cold in the winter for her tastes, and the summer too hot. Fall and spring were perfect.

She pulled the magenta scarf Jack had gotten her last year a little tighter around her neck, and doubled her pace, clutching her bag tight.

She arrived at the Lodging House in record time. Kloppman greeted her when she came in.

"Good day Ms. Plumber. The boys are upstairs." He said gruffly, tugging at the small beard he had managed to grow in the past couple months.

"Thanks Mr. Kloppman," she responded, watching as tiny pieces of ceiling fell down from the floor above them. Kloppman didn't seem to notice, or just didn't care. He shrugged, and sat down at his desk. Katherine flashed him another quick smile, and headed up the creaky stairs.

Upstairs the newsies were engaged in a very rowdy game of poker that somehow had something to do with about half of them doing handstands and attempting to stick cigarettes in each other's ears. Well, the last one was mostly Romeo. Katherine wasn't even sure where he got the cigarettes from, but guessed Race, who was grinning madly in the middle of the chaos and shuffling a deck of cards, had something to do with it.

She spotted Crutchie lounging back in the corner, and made her way over to him.

"Crutchie, do you know where Jack is?" She yelled over the din. Crutchie nodded.

"He's in the basement. Follow me." Katherine scrunched her eyebrows.

"The basement?" She yelled back. Crutchie pushed himself off the wall, and motioned for Katherine to follow him. He made his way through the crowded room with ease. Katherine was surprised that he could get around so easily while still being surrounded by so many people.

They walked down the stairs, and into a part on the main level Katherine hadn't been before. Crutchie opened a door Katherine had assumed earlier was just a closet, and led her down another creaky stairwell.

"This is the basement."

Katherine chuckled nervously. The dark basement seemed pretty creepy, even at daytime. Maybe she had just been thinking about Halloween way too much. Cobwebs stuck in the corners, and the floor was covered with a fine layer of dust, with footprints all over. It was cold, and the air tasted thick.

"Jack's down here?"

Crutchie nodded again, and started heading to the back. Then he turned around to face Katherine, and put a finger to his lips. Be quiet. His face looked strange in the little light that filtered through the covered-up windows. Katherine nodded, even though she was starting to feel a little creeped out.

"Jack?" Crutchie whispered. Katherine heard a shuffling noise coming from the darkest corner in the back. Jack's head poked out.

"Shhhhh. You're gonna scare the cat." Katherine was confused.

"A cat? You have a cat in the basement of the Lodging House?" She whispered harshly. Crutchie nodded happily.

"His name is Ghost." He commented.

Katherine resisted the urge to facepalm. Crutchie and Jack had apparently also been struck by Halloween fever.

"Why Ghost? Is it a ghost cat?" Katherine asked, sarcasm dripping into her voice. Both boys looked startled, then Jack scowled.

"See Crutchie, I told you we should have named him differently. But no, we had to go with Ghost."

Crutchie crossed his arms.

"Yeah, at least it's a better name then Spirit. Who names a cat Spirit?" He shot back. Jack scoffed. Katherine waved her arms to get their attention.

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters! He's gotta have a special name, 'cause he's a special cat!" Crutchie sputtered. Katherine mentally groaned. Sometimes boys could be a real pain.

"So where is this cat?" She asked, trying to avoid the name subject. Jack looked back around the corner.

"He was just here! Where'd he go?" He turned around trying to find the cat. Suddenly Katherine felt something like a cold breeze against her leg. She turned in the dark, trying to find where the air had come from. Nothing. It happened again, he skirt brushing against her leg. She watched, eyes wide as the shape of a cat materialized out of thin air. A ghost cat…

Katherine rubbed her eyes. That wasn't possible.

"Oh, Katherine found Ghost!" Crutchie said, pointing at the wavering shape of a cat at Katherine's legs.

"Spirit." Jack argued.

Katherine let out a shriek. This was too much. The cat wasn't there, yet it was. Both of the boys stopped fighting and looked at her.

"What happened?" Jack asked cautiously. Katherine felt like pulling her hair out or whacking Jack with her bag.

"It's fake, it's just a figment of my imagination, because ghosts aren't really real, and I've been working way too long at the office and my brain is malfunctioning."

The cat materialized fully. It was a lithe, sleek figure, way different then most of the cats she had met so far. This cat moved with ease, the muscles rippling, tail stuck in the perfect question mark shape. And it's eyes- the ghost cat had the bluest eyes Katherine had ever seen. Without thinking, she bent down and scratched the cat behind the ears. Somehow her hand didn't pass through the creature. The fur felt thin like mist, but moved like water. The ghost cat purred, and closed its eyes. Katherine fell in love right then and there.

"Awww." She cooed, scratching the cat under its chin.

"So Katherine, Ghost or Spirit?"

"I think we should call her Phantom."

"Her?" Jack and Crutchie said at the same time. Katherine nodded seriously.

"Phantom is a lady cat."

Both of them groaned. The ghost rubbed her face against Katherine's leg again, asking for more love. Katherine absentmindedly petted the cat as she talked.

"Yeah. She's beautiful, thank you for showing me her." She said gratefully.

Jack grinned, and Crutchie smiled sheepishly.

"So, you've met Phantom. We have a favor to ask now about her."

"Anything, you name it." Katherine replied.

"So, earlier this week, this other guy with a camera came by and took a picture of Phantom here. My guess is that The Sun is going to want to publish a story about Phantom, and the picture is really good. We were just wondering if you could somehow mess up the picture a little bit and make it way unbelievable. For Phantom?" Jack asked.

Katherine nodded.

"No problem," she said, rubbing Phantom's tummy.

Turns out it was a problem. Denton, one of her coworkers had been assigned the story. Which was a problem because despite her telling him several times she had a boyfriend, he asked her out every single time she talked to him, or flirted with her. She cringed just thinking about it.

The other problem was everyone in the office was talking about the photo already, saying that ghosts were real.

It was one of the most popular topics to discuss, and the photo was closely guarded by Denton. Thankfully, Katherine had a plan, even though it wasn't ideal.

"It's about to go downhill real fast from here," she muttered to herself.

She waltzed into the office the next day, ready to put her plan into motion. Denton was at his desk, clacking away at his typewriter. The photo of the cat lay beside the noisy machine. Katherine grimaced, then pasted a smile on her face.

"Denton.." she said in her sweetest voice. Denton looked up, and smiled. Katherine shuddered internally. He had a piece of lettuce stuck in his teeth.

"I was wondering if I could see the picture everyone's been talking about lately, if that would be okay with you." If she could, she would keep this strictly professional.

Denton leaned back in his chair, seemingly satisfied.

"Well Kathy, normally I'm not supposed to give such a valuable picture to anyone, but I'm sure we could strike up a deal, since I can never refuse such a beautiful lady. In exchange for a quick glance at the photo, I require a kiss. On the lips, if you please."

Katherine screamed internally. How many times had she told this creep that she had a boyfriend? Who did he think he was, asking something like that? Plus, she hated him. Still, she thought of Phantom and Jack and Crutchie, all depending on her. She shut her eyes and leaned in.

It.

Was.

Disgusting.

Denton was the worst kisser Katherine had ever met. It just felt wrong, their lips mashed together. He had somehow slobbered all over her lips. She wiped her lips, trying to get the grossness off. Denton, on the other hand looked extremely satisfied.

"The photo please." Katherine said, trying to sound as normal as possible. Denton held out the photo. She reached for it, but he pulled away, smirking.

"Are you sure you don't want another kiss? Maybe long and lingering? I hear you're a very nice French kisser."

She snatched the photo from his hand.

"Don't bet on it."

Finally, she could see the photo. She had to admit, it was a fabulous picture of Phantom, and was very well taken. Her startlingly blue eyes seemed to stare our right through Katherine. She made her way back over to her desk, clutching the photo tightly.

A bit of water, and the photo would be as blurry as all the other ghost photos out there. She reached for the glass of water on her desk. Suddenly, her boss walked by. She panicked, and stuffed the picture in her glass of water. Her boss passed without even looking her way.

She pulled the picture out of the glass as soon as she could. It was all soggy and crumpled and looked horrible. Whoops. Katherine supposed she should have just rubbed water on it, but it had been a quick decision and there was no going back.

Walking over to Denton's desk, she placed the photo gingerly next to his typewriter.

"I'm done. Thanks."

She turned around to head back to her desk, but not before seeing his look of dismay at the state of the photo. She heard his footsteps as he got out of his seat, cursing.

"Kathy what the heck happened to this photo?"

Katherine didn't reply, enjoying getting back at Denton, even if it was short lived.

"Nothing. I might of spilled a little water on it, that's all. And it's Katherine." She said innocently, moving the lamp on her desk to make room for some papers.

She could hear him grinding his teeth together, angry with her. She almost felt bad for him. Actually, not really.

She rushed back to the Lodging House after work, nodding a quick hello to Mr. Kloppman and going straight to the basement.

Phantom was waiting for her on the bottom step, blue eyes staring. Katherine dropped all of her things on the floor with a huff, and crouched down to say hello to the mysterious cat. The ghost cat purred as she rubbed against Katherine's leg.

"Well hello there beautiful." Katherine cooed as she petted Phantom. The cat meowed at her, then settled down on the bottom step, nudging at Katherine's bag.

Katherine took out the rough draft of the kidnapping story she had been assigned earlier that week.

"You want me to work on this?" The ghost cat meowed at her. She quickly fine-tuned her article, adding in bits and pieces that sounded good here and there. It was finally finished! Funny that it took an actual ghost to help her learn how to write one article about Halloween.

 **I had no idea how to end this. :) Also, I'm so sorry people that might have been reading this for wasting your time! Have a great day! Or night, depending on what time it is right now!**


End file.
